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List of State Anti-Price Gouging Laws

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have anti-price gouging laws

In the wake of “Superstorm Sandy” there has been a lot of writing on price gouging. Constantine von Hoffman, CBS Moneywatch, said in his column that only seven of 13 states struck by the storm had laws against price gouging, but he linked to a 2006 survey that is out of date. By my review, every state east of the Mississippi River has a law against price gouging except for Maryland, Delaware, New Hampshire, and Ohio. Nationwide, I count 34 states and the District of Columbia as having anti-price gouging laws.

Here is my current list of states with anti-price gouging laws, noting the date of the initial price gouging law, reference, and occasionally a link to the law or an added note. At the end of the table is a list of resources I’ve used to compile this list (which have been supplemented by some good old-fashioned Google searching). I’ve exercised some care in assembling this list, but there may be errors. Please let me know if you discover one.

Politicians are using the time-honored way to lower prices. Instead of gas prices rising by 50%, people can buy on alternate days.

But wait. We don’t need an emergency to benefit from this policy. States should decree that gas prices be 30% less, and we can buy gas on alternate days. The savings to the public would be tremendous, and an economic boom would follow. Yes?